Two suns in '12 fuel end-of-the-world talk

Reports that the star Betelgeuse is about to explode so spectacularly that it will appear as a second sun in our sky has been floating around the Internet for months.

But it gained credibility this week when a physics lecturer at the University of South Queensland, Australia, was quoted as saying that such an event could happen next year, which happens to be when the Mayan calendar runs out.

Some have said that 2012 will be the end of the world. The possibility of a supernova adds weight to those who believe the Mayan apocalypse prophecy.

Betelgeuse is a bright-red supergiant star positioned in the right shoulder of the constellation Orion, the hunter, and it is easily seen in the night sky at this time of the year, rising in the east right after sunset.

A Miami astronomer disputes some details of the reports.

"We've known for a very long time that Betelgeuse is massive enough to end its life as a supernova," said Carolyn Simpson, physics professor at Florida International University in Miami.

"It could go supernova in the next five minutes, or in a million years," said Simpson, who loves debunking scientific misinformation. "We have no way of telling."

And it won't be as bright as our sun, although it could be brighter than a full moon - at night. It would be visible in the daytime, looking like a bright star or a pinprick in the daytime sky, then fading over days or weeks, Simpson said.

That might not sound like much, but it would be the only time such an event has occurred since the Crab Nebula exploded in 1054.

"It will be the brightest star in the sky other than our sun," said Jim Kimball, president of the Astronomical Society of the Palm Beaches. "That will be extremely impressive."

As for the 2012 connection: "The Mayan thing, that's just whacked," said Simpson, who says that the Internet and instant media are at least partly responsible for connecting the very real possibility of Betelgeuse exploding with the scientifically questionable date for the end of the world.

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